That’s been the reaction of local lawyers to the news that one of their own — Craig J. Martin — last week submitted an affidavit to the state Board of Bar Overseers stating his desire to resign from his profession.

That’s been the reaction of local lawyers to the news that one of their own — Craig J. Martin — last week submitted an affidavit to the state Board of Bar Overseers stating his desire to resign from his profession.

Although he denies any criminal wrongdoing, Martin in his affidavit acknowledged the allegation that he misappropriated at least $670,000 in his role as real estate closing attorney representing a lender or lenders.

He also states he accepts the fact he would have to wait eight years to apply for the reinstatement of his license, and that he will never be allowed to practice law in the Commonwealth.

“I’m shocked and saddened,” said Steven Torres, former Taunton city solicitor and now Fall River’s corporation counsel.

Torres, who said he’s known the 52-year-old Martin for at least 20 years, said Martin has “always been a gentleman and an honest man.”

“I’m just floored,” Torres said, adding that “no one in the local legal community expected this.”

Martin, who grew up in Dighton, founded The Law Offices of Craig J. Martin and Associates in 1991, establishing an office in Taunton at 109 Dean St. and a second office in Falmouth in 1997.

His late father, Richard “Dick” Martin, was a well-known Taunton attorney; his grandfather, Joseph, was a successful businessman for whom the Joseph H. Martin Middle School was named.

In his affidavit, Martin states that if a bar-counsel hearing were to proceed it would prove, “by a preponderance of the evidence,” that he had “intentionally misappropriated ... funds from subsequent closings to pay off mortgages or other obligations owed on earlier closings.”

“I do not have adequate funds to pay off mortgages on at least two closings that have gone to record,” he states.

Martin had professional ties to two local banking institutions: He was a corporator of Bristol County Savings Bank and served as general counsel to Taunton Federal Credit Union.

John D. Damaso, Taunton Federal Credit Union’s president and CEO, insisted that no TFCU member will be financially damaged, even if the investigation reveals that a transaction involving a loan issued by the credit union is part of the $670,000 misappropriation.

“We’re covered by title insurance issued to us [by Martin],” Damaso said. “All of our members will be protected one way or another. But we haven’t found anything to protect yet.”

Damaso said “we’ve begun due diligence to examine member accounts.” He also said he’s known Martin since he began doing mortgage closings on behalf of TFCU roughly 18 years ago.

“We both started here around the same time,” Damaso said, adding that “anyone who knew him wouldn’t question his integrity.”

Messages left at the offices at both Martin and his Taunton lawyer, James Fagan, whose office is also on Dean Street, were not returned.

Page 2 of 3 - Taunton real estate attorney Steven P. Strojny said that he’s known Martin since he was a boy.

“He’s one of my best friends,” Strojny said.

Strojny, 42, recalled that his late father, former Taunton mayor Thaddeus “Ted” Strojny, was hired fresh out of law school by Dick Martin. The two eventually became partners and in 1969 formed the Martin & Strojny law firm.

Coincidentally, according to Strojny, it was Ted who hired Craig Martin when he graduated from Suffolk University Law School in 1983.

“I can imagine this happening to some lawyers, but Craig would be the last person I would put on that list,” Strojny said.

Strojny described a “kinship” that exists between himself and Martin. In addition to being Taunton area lawyers (although Martin and his family now live in East Falmouth), both, he said, have a child diagnosed with autism.

Strojny credits Martin for forming the Cape Cod Challenger Club, which enables parents of mentally and physically disabled children to have their kids engage in athletic and social activities.

“It’s an amazing project,” he said.

Strojny dismissed speculation that Martin might have been struggling with a gambling or drug addiction requiring large sums of money. If there was any hint of “a dark side,” he said, “I’d know about it.”

“It must have been weighing on him tremendously. It’s just the opposite, really. The more you get to know him the more you respect him,” said Strojny, who called Martin “an excellent litigator.”

Strojny said Martin, his wife Regina, a lawyer who more recently has been a stay-at-home mom, and their two children have always lived a “modest lifestyle.”

But he said the collapse of the housing market in 2008 most likely strained his ability to maintain his standard of living.

“My business has fallen off ninety percent from two years ago,” Strojny said. “Ultimately it caught up with him.”

He also said he had come to learn over the years that Martin could be particularly generous when it came to poor and destitute clients, charging lower rates and at times doing work pro bono — which he said could have exacerbated his financial strain.

Restitution could be sought by lenders, Strojny said. But assests of any individual client will be protected by the state Clients’ Security Board of the Supreme Judicial Court.

William A. Manganiello, who has a practice on Winthrop Street and is an adjunct professor at UMass School of law Dartmouth, said that he and Martin shared office space from 1995 to 2005.

“Craig was very meticulous and careful and thorough with his clients. He was a very careful individual and very honest,” Manganiello said.

Martin was also, he said, “highly regarded for his title work.”

Page 3 of 3 - But he said it’s plausible that the real estate crash caught Martin offguard and left him scrambling to make ends meet.

“In the conveyance market he wouldn’t be able to survive on two or three closings per week. You need to diversify,” he said.

Manganiello theorized that what amounted to a pyramid scheme of sorts, even if it was unintentional, was likely the result of Martin’s inability to “close the gap” when sales dropped off, which, he said, could have led him to dip into his state-mandated IOLTA — Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts — escrow account.